Marinelli, godfather of state football, shares some thoughts
The winningest coach in Connecticut high school history — the godfather of state football, a man preparing for the Class LL playoffs against Southington — was exactly where you’d expect to find him on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving.
On a ladder hanging a Christmas wreath in the front of his house.
A few moments later,
Lou Marinelli, completing his 40th season at New Canaan — the 41st year including COVID — was saying “My wife has the
Christmas music going. Let me turn that down first.”
We spent the next 37 minutes talking all things Marinelli and Connecticut football. He had some strong views about what UConn football, which now includes his son John, can do recruiting in state. He is a proponent of the CIAC turning to eight-man football for smaller schools instead of the constant escalation of co-ops.
But first things first: Lou Marinelli is not retiring after this season.
“Chris Silvestri and some of my young coaches probably wish I would,” he said. “To watch me go on the computer and Hudl (to review game footage) is a comedy show all by itself.”
Marinelli loves to preface his more serious points
with a dollop of humor. What started in Mamaroneck in 1976 and Yorktown in 1979 and continued at New Canaan in 1981 will not end in 2021. His New Canaan record of 349-103-6 (368-110-7 overall) will continue to grow. So may his record of 12 state championships.
“Oh yeah, I’ll be back,” Marinelli said. “I’m in a special town, a special school with great kids and have been for 40 years. I still feel like I can help kids with life skills, to get through different things as well as football.
“Otherwise, I’d just be hanging up wreaths.”
And how was the Marinelli Thanksgiving?
“Let me tell you, it was great.” No. 3 New Canaan upset topranked Darien, 12-7, with a brilliant defensive performance in the Turkey Bowl. And John Marinelli, who officially was named UConn tight ends coach Sunday, got to be there for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Our defense, coaches and players, did a great job,” Marinelli said. “Chris Silvestri (defensive coordinator) has made me look good in an unbelievable amount of situations as a player and a coach. The kids didn’t doubt themselves. There weren’t intimidated by what they saw on film.”
The outcome of the No. 1 Thanksgiving rivalry in the state left the media thinking long and hard this weekend about who should be No. 1 in the GameTimeCT poll to be released Monday.
So how should we vote? “How much money do you want?” Marinelli said. Joking.
“Seriously, that’s a tough one,” he said. “Fairfield Prep, have seen them on film. Very good. Darien is good. I think we’re right with both of them. Who else? I don’t think St. Joe’s this year has been what they’ve been. I love Joe (Della Vecchia). We’re good friends. I think they have had better teams. The team that beat us soundly (42-0 in the 2019 Class L semis) when we had Drew Pyne, that was a special team.
“I think we’re all pretty close with one loss.”
It should be noted that New Canaan, in Class LL in 2021, doesn’t have to play St. Joe’s in the postseason.
“I’ve been on both sides of it,” Marinelli said. “We were picked No. 1 early and lost the first game (to St. Joe’s in both 2017 and 2018). When they asked me at the beginning of the year, I did say Darien deserved to be No. 1. They have so many good athletes.”
Marinelli likes the CIAC’s new bonus-point structure that benefited teams with more challenging schedules and got Greenwich (Class LL) and Daniel Hand (Class L) into final postseason spots. He does not like the move from four to six divisions that will be implemented next season. Marinelli was one of the 12 percent of the coaches who voted against it.
“In a state as small as ours, you really water it down,” Marinelli said. “The CIAC is trying to do it make it like softball and volleyball where more people get in. Unless
you take the co-ops and put them in a division and the schools of choice and put them in a division. Then you could divide the publics into the four categories. Other than that, I’m not in favor of it at all.”
New UConn coach Jim Mora called Marinelli and left a message. Marinelli called back. They’ve exchanged texts. Marinelli is impressed with the way Mora has reached out to coaches around the state since his hiring and even attended the HandGuilford and New London-NFA games over the holiday.
“It’s a fresh start,” Marinelli said. “It’s exciting.”
If Mora was looking for the best young coach from Connecticut to help recruit in-state, especially fertile Fairfield County, he made the best possible choice. John Marinelli, who coached Greenwich to a state title in 2018, had been an analyst at Arizona and Illinois the past three seasons.
He was thrilled to be home for his mom’s holiday cooking, although a little annoyed that word had leaked about the UConn job.
While it is true Connecticut does not produce a ton of FBS talent, it is also true UConn does not have a history of landing the great majority of the best ones. There have been too many misses. At the very least, it isn’t good for the program’s image in-state.
“What I think (Mora) needs to do is to get the coaches out on the road so that all the state high school coaches know someone from UConn,” Marinelli said. “So they can be that source coaches
feel like they can go to and be welcome. I do think Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone had that part right. They had 7-on-7 tournaments, camps we went to up there.
“A coaches’ clinic, I’d do something like that. The more you get to know the high school coaches the better you can find the young guys, even eighth grade. It has gotten so crazy. To get them on campus, to be the first one to offer them. That and with proper use of the portal I think they will be able to turn it around. I do think not being in a conference hurts.”
Marinelli said one kid UConn should be on is Cam Edwards, the Norwalk running back-defensive back: “If he isn’t the best running back in the state, I don’t know who is. I think he’s a DI safety.”
High schools from Fairfield County provide a high percentage of students at UConn. Is there a draw, at least with brand recognition, for top football players?
“I don’t think that’s in place football-wise, especially now,” Marinelli said. “In 40 years, I’ve never sent a kid up there to play. Randy (Edsall) and I got into couple of things. I’ve had kids not be offered by UConn only to be told, ‘He didn’t come to my camp.’ The kid had 26 offers, why does he have to go to your camp?
“And that was before we had Lucas Niang and Zach Allen, who are now in the NFL. Conor Hanratty, Terry’s son, maybe Randy thought he’d just go to Notre Dame so let’s not offer him. He ultimately went to Notre Dame. But, again, I’d offer any (FBS) kid in the state. Of course, that’s subjective.”
After all the years, all the wins, Marinelli has no shortage of opinions. He’d like to spend an entire column on why the CIAC should re-introduce spring football or some form of offseason workouts. Not for the good of the affluent towns with powerful teams, he insisted, for the good of the “havenot” programs, especially in the cities. He thinks it’s the only way to level the playing field.
“And what’s wrong with eightman football?” Marinelli said. “I know it’s sacrilege for some.”
Then again, neighboring towns that once were fierce rivals and considered co-ops sacrilegious are now co-op teammates.
Some of the schools in Fairfield County have more than 100 kids in their programs. There are individual Class S schools battling to get 30. That has led to the rising number of co-ops. Talk to co-op coaches. The dynamics are really difficult.
As of 2015, 1,561 schools in 30 states had reduced-player football in some form, with 1,161 in eightman leagues. It’s popular in the Midwest.
“You can keep school unity,” Marinelli said. “You can keep rivalries with smaller schools. You keep your school spirit. You don’t have to bus kids from one school to another school for practice every day. The CIAC should seriously consider it.”
And with that, the godfather of state football returned to his Christmas wreath.